The Blue Bird

I don’t remember which bird it was, may be I was too awed about what happened that day. It was the closest, most intimate encounter I had with any bird. (Could be that it was sea kingfisher)

My friend, Tania and I got up after finishing our Falun Gong sitting meditation on the beautiful Pondicherry beach. There was some commotion behind us. I looked around and saw many crows chasing a tiny bird. All I could see from the distance was that it was blue in color. I guess the crows win their battle against a prey by first scaring it with their loud cawing and this is what they were doing that day. I soon forgot about it and made my way home on my bicycle.

Half a kilometer ahead, I decided to take a narrow lane, thinking I could fetch some flowers. In Pondicherry, people are very fond of flowers and rangolis and they attracted me too. For some reason, I got down from the bicycle and casually started to drag it along. I like Pondicherry’s narrow streets lined with French homes and bougainvillea stretching from behind the grey walls.

Just then that crow-commotion shifted over my head. Caw..Caw…loud and louder! And there next to me I saw the blue bird hopping along, seeking help. I shooed away the crows but they kept cawing from the house tops. They were diving over the blue bird like a fighter-jet, attacking the little head. It had gone a little bald!

I was stuck — what should I do? My mind said, “The bird will be scared of you.”

I was left with no option because the crows were waiting to tear the bird apart. I approached the bird and to my surprise, it walked into my palm. Everything was happening too quickly. Obviously I can’t walk into the busy street with a bird in my hand. I put the bird in my carrier basket and covered it with a piece of newspaper from the street.

My mind started mulling about how I could take care of the bird. In those few minutes I harbored feelings of pride. I thought of leaving the bird in someone’s care at Auroville. I thought of many-many things. Another 400 meters away while I dragged my bicycle, trying to shade the bird from curious eyes, it flew away into the canopy of a giant tree. With it flew away my pride — my mind blank of all deliberate intelligence.

I realize the bird knew what it had to do. It had intelligence! It sought help and knew at what point it could fly to safety. It had not to keep following me to safety. I was merely open to the moment and there existed my role. Children similarly are not devoid of intelligence. Walk along, take care and then let them take a flight on their journey ahead!

Story by Venus Upadhayaya